PC Drivers & Software

[madscientistjaidev]

I am running an MSI X370 Gaming Plus Motherboard with an MSI RX 580 GPU and 32 GB of DDR4 RAM. My boot SSD is a WD SN850.

I have been using a Ryzen 7 1700X for the past 5 years without any issue. I just bought a used 3800X to be able to run Windows 11, but it refuses to detect any SSD in the M.2 slot. This isn't a Windows issue; the UEFI says that the slot is empty.

I have updated the MB FW to the latest version. I have tested the SSD on other machines and can confirm it is working. I am even able to boot from it with the 3800X when I put it in a USB-C enclosure. Other M.2 disks are not detected either. Reverting to the 1700X makes them show up correctly. All SATA drives and other devices and peripherals are detected correctly.

I have tried resetting the UEFI to default settings, changing the PCI gen compatibility, and tweaking a few other settings, but nothing works. The only option I see now is to clone it onto a Crucial SATA SSD I have lying around, but I don't want to do that since that is not as fast as an NVME M.2 disk and it would significantly slow down my workflow.

Any help would be appreciated.

[johnnyenglish]

That can be quite weird, but after putting it into doctor google, it pops up lots of results from various MSI boards and NVME not being detected.

But I'm guessing that is some setting inside BIOS or it could be just bugging out.

Instead of resetting to defaults, try clearing CMOS with the jumper or removing the battery. Worth a shot.

Good luck

[madscientistjaidev]

Thank you for the reply. I did clear the CMOS with the jumper, but that didn't do anything. I saw some Google results about NVME issues with MSI boards, but I have been using this one without any issues for several years, which leads me to think that it is a CPU issue.

[elstaci]

According to your Motherboard specs on the M.2 slot: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/x370-gaming-plus/Specification

According to your WD SN850 specs: https://www.westerndigital.com/products/internal-drives/wd-black-sn850-nvme-ssd#WDS500G1X0E

PCIe 4 x 4 is the same as PCIe 3 x 8 slot. Your Motherboard's M.2 Slot uses a PCIe 3 x4 slot with a Ryzen processor.  I imagine it is backwards compatible but not sure.

From your manual:

When you install the WD SSD with Windows  on it with the Ryzen 3800X the PC shouldn't boot up if BIOS doesn't recognize the SSD.

What EZ BUG LED is lit up? The EZ Bug code should be the BOOT EZ BUG light since the WD SSD is not be recognized.

In  BIOS from your manual I didn't see any settings for the M.2 slot on your motherboard.

But you mentioned with the Ryzen 1700 the WD SSD is recognized. Possibly you have a defective processor or it isn't compatible with the 3800x.

I would try to install the 3800x in another motherboard and see if the M.2 slot is recognized with your SSD installed.

Unfortunately if you 3800x is a second hand processor you have no 3 year AMD Warranty on it.

EDIT: I believe that the M.2 slot is controlled by the processor and not the AMD CHIPSET. So it sounds like you have a defective processor.

[madscientistjaidev]

The Boot LED is lit up. Unfortunately, I don't have access to another machine with an AM4 socket.

The GPU is working fine, so I'm going to put the SSD into an adapter and try with one of the free PCI Express slots. They are going for around 10 to 15 USD on Amazon, so even if it doesn't work, I won't be too much more into the hole.

[vialli100]

I tried running my R7 3700x on my old Asus Prime x370 and got loads of different problems..

After a little trying to work out what the problem was, I eventually worked it out..

The VRM's on the x370 were not enough for a 3700x, so I had to upgrade the mobo to x570 Tuf Gaming by Asus..

I had also upgraded from the 1700x which the x370 chipset had no problems with..

Sorry to say, but you may need to upgrade your motherboard..

[elstaci]

@vialli100 

Good point. I didn't realize that the OP was talking about a 300 series motherboard.

[madscientistjaidev]

Thank you for the reply. I bought this CPU because it is explicitly mentioned on the MSI website as being compatible with my motherboard. Could you tell me a little more about how you figured out that the problem was with the VRMs?

[vialli100]

Sometimes the PC wouldn't start, sometimes it couldn't find various HDD's..

Just not stable enough, my x370 mobo was also listed as being able to run it..

I always keep my bios up to date, x370 were not really made for 3rd gen...

But the VRM's were just not up to it..

[johnnyenglish]

Sometimes its not just about the chipset, specially when its down to the VRM's that a board has available to power the new CPU.
Let me give you an example:

The RoG STRIX B450 E Gaming has better VRM's than even the RoG STRIX X470 F Gaming (12Phase VS 8Phase), let alone lower tier X470 or X370 boards. That's why I've seen some people having problems using 5800X3D in a B450, not all can get it done flawlessly.

PS:
After crossing that info on google maybe 4vcore VRM's available on that board may not be enough for that CPU....

[madscientistjaidev · Accepted solution]

Well, I managed to find a workaround for the issue, even though I haven't been able to solve it. I'll leave this here in case anyone runs into the same problems.

I got a PCI Express adapter for the M.2 SSD ($15 on Amazon) and plugged it into one of the free slots. It was detected correctly, and Windows started booting. But it crashed repeatedly with a BSOD error 0xc000021a. I looked it up, but it doesn't point to any particular issue. However, I managed to boot by going into advanced boot options and disabling driver verification. This gave me a clue about the issue.

I started enabling and disabling random devices in Device Manager, but this did not do anything. Finally, I removed the AMD Graphics drivers and software for the RX 580 and reinstalled them from scratch. This seems to have fixed the problem, and my computer is running fine now aside from a few minor problems.

If I clock the RAM to anything over 2400, POST will fail. I am going to keep it at 2400 for now. I only had it clocked to 2666 before, so this is not a huge sacrifice. Another issue is that enabling the TPM causes POST to fail unless you also change the boot mode from Legacy+UEFI to just UEFI. I don't know if this is by design or another bug, but I am not going to chase it down. I am just happy to have everything working.

[Vynski]

Is the MSI X370 board compatible with the Ryzen 7 3800X? 

I had a similar issue with an MSI MPG 570 Gaming Plus with a Ryzen 7 2700 and an XPG Gammix s70 SSD.  The SSD was recognized and performed very well but only at 3500MB/s.  The Gammix S70 is a Gen 4  x 4 and the manual clearly states that Gen 2 Ryzen CPU's will not recognize the Gen 4 x 4.  It's available but will only run at Gen 3 x 4 speeds with the Gen 2 CPUs.

Looking at the specs on the x370 board, it is clearly stated that it is a Gen 1 and Gen 2 board.  That is where I would start from.  I would recommend trying 3800x in an X570 board and see if the problem goes away.  I can't visualize running a A Ryzen 7 3800X on an X370 board.  Too many architectural differences, with #1 being it is not a Gen 3 board.

[madscientistjaidev]

The compatibility list on MSI website says that the board works with CPUs up to the 3000 generation. Obviously, they were being a bit optimistic with trying to flog the AM4 socket as much as possible, but since I have managed to get it to work (albeit with a workaround), I'll call it partially true. You can see the list here: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/X370-GAMING-PLUS/support#cpu

I tried CrystalDiskMark, and I am getting a peak of around 3800 MBPS with the SSD in an x4 PCI Express slot. Not optimal, but good enough for my purposes. I don't have access to any other AM4 boards, so I can't do any further testing.

[vialli100]

Not really a solution, as your still having little problems...